Course Coordinator: Adrian De Luca
Phone: +61 8 8313 6284
Email: adrian.deluca@adelaide.edu.au

Student Liason Officer
Phone: +61 8 8313 3595
Email: nursing.studentliaison@adelaide.edu.au

1	Discuss the aetiology, pathophysiology, assessment, and management of common cardiovascular disorders
2	Outline the process of risk stratification and the assessment tools used to risk stratify patients with non-ST-segment acute coronary syndromes
3	Compare and contrast percutaneous intervention and surgical option for the treatment of coronary, valvular, and thoracic aortic disease.
4	Identify the potential physical, social, emotional, cultural, and spiritual issues patients and their families may face with end stage cardiac disease
5	Explain the concepts of palliative care, and recommended strategies to improve palliative care for patients with advanced cardiovascular disease
6	Outline the legal and ethical considerations relating to end of life cardiac care
7	Identify and critically appraise the evidence that informs practice.

Prescribed texts
TBA

The prescribed texts are integral to the course and may be purchased from all or some of the following outlets:

Unibooks
The University of Adelaide
Adelaide SA 5005
Phone: +61 8 8125 5160
Email: adelaide@unibooks.com.au
Website: www.unibooks.com.au

Ramsay – Medical books and more
Located at Unibooks Adelaide Store
Gate 10 (off Victoria Drive) Union Building
Adelaide SA 5000
Phone: +61 8 8125 5195 or 1300 796 106
Fax: +61 8 8231 2069
Email: sales@ramsaybooks.com.au
Website: www.ramsaybooks.com.au

Encompass Bookshop
Shop 20, Renaissance Arcade
128 Rundle Mall
Adelaide SA 5000
Phone: 08 8224 0886
Fax: 08 8223 3570
Email: adelaide@encompassbooks.com.au
Website: www.encompassbooks.com.au

Reader
The readings for this course are available on MyUni.

Please note: it is your responsibility to organise printing should you prefer a hard copy of the reader.

MyUni
All students enrolled in a postgraduate coursework nursing program have access to the School of Nursing – Postgraduate Coursework Student Centre on MyUni. If you would like the opportunity to network with other students, you can use the Communication features in the site. This site will also feature information about the latest news and events at the School of Nursing.

Unified
http://unified.adelaide.edu.au/
UNIFIED is your one-stop shop for email, calendar, MyUni and Access Adelaide. It even allows you to search the Library.
UNIFIED is available to all active students; with a single login you can access your student systems and personal information through a central website. Login with your Student ID ("a1234567") and Password.

For more information, including easy to follow instructions visit https://unified.adelaide.edu.au/web/mycampus/home.

Library Resources
Help for Nursing Students
The University of Adelaide Library has a website to help nursing students use the library and its resource (www.library.adelaide.edu.au/guide/med/nursing).

Remote student library service
The University of Adelaide Library provides a document delivery and loans service to non-metropolitan students who do not visit a University of Adelaide campus to attend classes (www.adelaide.edu.au/library/docdel/external.html).

This course will be delivered on campus and will incorporate the following:

1. Two hours contact per week
2. A blend of lectures, tutorials and workshops incorporating problem-based learning and small group discovery
3. Lecture notes online

The delivery mode of this course is mainly face-to-face tutorials on campus (Two hours contact per week). Although attendance is not compulsory in this course, students are strongly encouraged to attend the classes. Many of the tutorials presented in this course will involve Problem-Based Learning and Small Group Discovery directly related to your clinical practice as a cardiac nurse specialist.

Reading
There are several required texts for this course. Most of the Reading will be supplied to you online through MyUni. However you are strongly advised to search and read widely of each topic in this course.

This is a 3-unit course so you should be expecting to spend at least 12 hours a week on readings and completing the assignments. This includes all study activities, attendance at workshops, readings and assessment. Thus some weeks it will be more and others less. It is recommended that you plan your time commitment to the course at the beginning of the semester.

In this course, we will cover a variety of topics that shape and direct the activities of cardiac nurses as they practise in health services. Specifically, the course content addresses:

• Anginal syndromes and associated pharmacology
• Non ST-elevation acute coronary syndromes and risk stratification
• ST-elevation myocardial infarction; causes, presentation, diagnosis, management, complications
• Interventional cardiology
• Contrast nephropathy
• Cardiac surgery
• Chronic heart failure and associated pharmacology
• Electrophysiology studies
• Pacing therapies for heart failure & implantable cardiovertor defibrillators
• Ventricular assist devices / heart transplant
• Outpatient heart failure management
• End of life decisions & palliative care
• Valvular heart disease / endocarditis
• Transcatheter valve implantation
• Diseases of the thoracic aorta
• Hypertensive crisis
• Coordinating care

Assessment Task	Assessment Type	Weighting	Learning Outcome(s) being addressed
Learning Activity	Formative	NGP	1, 2, 7
Case study outline and search strategy	Formative	10%	1-3, 7
Case Study	Summative	40%	1-3, 7
Written examination	Summative	50%	1-7

Further information on writing a case study and essay can be found in the Student Handbook and Style Guide.

Referencing must comply with the Student Handbook and Style Guide. The method recommended by the School of Nursing is the ‘Harvard system’, sometimes called the ‘author-date system’.

All assignments must be formatted according to the guidelines outlined in the Student Handbook and Style Guide or marks will be deducted.

Students are further reminded that plagiarism, that is the submission of material, which is the work of someone else as if it were your own, constitutes a serious offence and can result in disciplinary procedures.

Assessment 1: Learning Activity (150 words) Due: Week 2
Complete the learning activity in week 1 consisting of your responses to those activities/discussion points. The assessment is scheduled early in the semester to assist students with the planning and development of the presentation, to ensure that appropriate resources are used, and that referencing complies with the Disciplines Handbook and Style Guide.

Assessment 2: Case Study Outline and Search Strategy (500 words) Due: Week 6
Case studies allow clinical episodes and practice to be articulated and explored. Your case study should be about a patient you have cared for, relating actual events in which you were involved. The topic chosen for the case study must align with the learning objectives and course contents outlined in this course. Depending on your clinical placement the focus may be on a medical, interventional or surgical cardiac patient.

You may be required to access the patient’s records or case notes while preparing your case study. The policy for this varies between institutions and you will need to talk to medical records to find out the procedure to be followed. Permission to access case notes is sometimes needed and can take some time, so plan in advance. The easiest method to access the notes is while the patient is still in the clinical area.

Note: Please ensure that a patient's anonymity is maintained at all times.

Topic:
This assessment is scheduled early in the semester to assist in the planning and development of your case study, so that you can receive feedback on your work before handing in your final assignment.

Once you have identified the episode of patient care to written up for the case study:
• Introduce the topic and provide a brief paragraph which situates the topic, and identifies the significance of the paper. The introduction should also identify any limits or boundaries to your work and define key term. (This is designed to assist in the development of the introduction for your final essay).
• Provide a rough plan (in dot point form) of your case study identifying key headings that outline the structure of your case study.
• Outline the key points to be discussed under the headings identified above and the issues to be critiqued. (This is designed to assist in the development of the content of the paper ensuring the topic and significant issues are covered appropriately, and from a variety of perspectives).
• Describe the search strategy undertaken to identify preliminary references including key words and databases used. (This is to ensure contemporary and reliable resources are used).
• Provide a reference list containing 5 preliminary references on the topic which complies with the School of Nursing Student Handbook and Style Guide.

A high academic writing standard is required with key points in text referenced appropriately.

Assessment 3: Case Study (Final) (1500 words) Due: Week 11
The case study should be structured as an academic paper with the following sections:
• introduction
• body of text that covers the following areas:
• presents the patient’s story, including their clinical presentation, relevant history, nursing assessment and diagnosis
• describes the pathophysiology of the patient’s condition
• describes the nursing and medical management of the patient (with an emphasis on nursing)
• discusses the discharge planning undertaken during the admission as relevant to your area of practice
• conclusion that summarises the case study and ends with some specific recommendations for practice based on the evidence presented in the case study.

Examples of the arrhythmia and/or ECG's must be included in the appendices, if they are referred to and analysed in the text.

The most important component of the case study is your critique of the nursing and medical care the patient received. This cannot be overemphasised. The focus of the critique is to explore the rationale behind the nursing and medical management of the patient and to see whether this is consistent with evidence-based practice. To maintain the flow of the paper it is suggested that the critique be integrated throughout the case study. It is essential that your arguments are balanced, presenting the advantages and limitation of various treatments and that this is support with the appropriate literature. The National Heart Foundation of Australia publishes various evidenced-based clinical guidelines that may be useful with this.

You may write in the first person to convey actual conversations. For example, 'I asked the patient about her level of pain', but must be written in past tense.

Assessment 4: Written Examination
Due Date: Exam Weeks
Weighting: 50%
Length: 2 hours

Detail will be given nearer the examination date.

Assessment Submission
Assessments, unless otherwise stated in your Study guide, are to be submitted electronically via Assignments in MyUni on the due date identified in this Study guide. Instructions for assignment submission are available for all students under Tutorials at www.adelaide.edu.au/myuni/.
An assessment submitted via MyUni must be submitted as a .doc, .docx or .rtf file. If submitting a PowerPoint presentation for marking, the .ppt or .pptx must be submitted as .pdf file. It is also important to submit your file under your name, such as surname.firstname. MyUni stamps all the other details against your filename once you submit your assessment.

An Assignment Coversheet must be submitted with each assessment. The coversheet should be the first page of your assessment. A word version of the Assignment Coversheet is available to download at www.health.adelaide.edu.au/nursing/students/resources. The Plagiarism Statement must be signed and dated for your assessment to be marked (please note the details stated on the Assignment Coversheet). More information on avoiding Plagiarism is available at www.adelaide.edu.au/clpd/plagiarism/.

If you have difficulty submitting your assignment, you can call the MyUni helpdesk from 8am to 6pm 08 8303 3335.

Extension of time for assessment items
It is expected that all assessments will be submitted on or by the specified due date.

However, students may apply for an extension of time to submit an assessment, if they are experiencing difficulty. Applications for extension must be made via the online form on the School of Nursing website http://health.adelaide.edu.au/nursing/current-students/. The grounds for granting an extension include health problems, compassionate reasons and other extenuating circumstances. Extensions will usually only be granted for a maximum of one week, but can be longer at the discretion of the Chairperson of the Postgraduate Learning and Teaching Sub-Committee or Head of Learning and Teaching if substantiated with evidence such as a medical certificate.

Upon completion of the online form, you will receive a receipt to your student email of your approved extension. If your extension is granted, then it is your responsibility to keep in contact with the course coordinator and to submit the assessment with evidence of your approved extension.

You must complete this online form for each course and assessment that you request an extension for.

Failure to submit an assessment item on time without an approved extension will incur a penalty as detailed under Late Submission of Work.

Late submission of work
All assessments should be submitted by the specified due date.

Late submission without an approved extension will be penalised at the rate of 10% of available marks for each day after the due date. Work submitted more than ten days after the due date may be returned unmarked. This action will be taken to prevent students who do get their work in on time being disadvantaged.

Word limit
You are advised to comply with word limits. You are, of course, not expected to achieve exactly the required length and a 10% leeway on either side is acceptable. However, a penalty of 5% of available marks will apply for word limit in excess of the 10% leeway.

Presentation
Your written work must comply with the formatting and referencing indicated in the School Academic Manual. Marks will be lost for failing to do so.

Return of assessments
Marked assignments and feedback will be returned via MyUni. For further information relating to assessment refer to the Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy.

Requesting a remark
Any student who, after discussion of the result with the course coordinator, is still dissatisfied with the final grade awarded for a course, and who has specific grounds for objecting to the grade, may lodge a written request for a review of the result or an independent second assessment with the Head of School within 10 University business days from the date of notification of the result. Such a written request must contain details of the grounds on which the objection is based. Requests must include a summary of the reasons the student believes his or her assessment work deserves a higher grade. These reasons must be directly related to the academic quality of the work. Re-marks, for example, will not be granted where the grounds are that the student has paid tuition fees or incurred liability under HECS-HELP or FEE-HELP, or needs one or two additional marks to get a higher overall grade for the course. The Head of Learning and Teaching may seek the advice of the Postgraduate Learning and Teaching Sub-Committee, and will make a determination on review or second assessment, and inform the student of his or her decision in writing.

The grade awarded to a piece of work following review or second assessment as provided for in this policy or as a consequence of appeal to the Student Appeals Committee will usually stand as the final grade for the work, regardless of whether it is higher or lower than the grade originally awarded.

Further guidelines and policies regarding examinations may be found on the examinations website www.adelaide.edu.au/student/exams/rules_policies.html.

Resubmitting failed assessments
In accordance with University Policy, the guidelines and conditions regarding resubmission are stated below. It should be noted that these guidelines concern work that has been assessed as ‘FAIL’.
Course coordinators, in consultation with Head of Learning & Teaching and/or the Pre-Registration or Postgraduate Learning and Teaching Sub-Committee Chairperson, are responsible for determining the circumstances in which students may resubmit assessment tasks. In determining these circumstances, the following are considered.
a) Students may only resubmit their work when:
i ) It will allow them to demonstrate that they have understood feedback on their work; and/or
ii) They might otherwise be at risk of failing the course; and/or
iii) When they have received a Fail grade with an underlying mark of 45-49%; or
iv) The final assessment task in the course is weighted at 20% or more of the total course assessment.
b) In granting a resubmission, the deadline will be negotiated.
c) The resubmitted work will be awarded no more than the minimum pass mark (i.e. 50%).
d) If the resubmitted work does not achieve a pass, it cannot be submitted a third time, and a fail will be recorded.
e) Students who accept an offer of resubmission must take into account the possible implications, such as eligibility for graduation should the reassessment not be able to be completed in time for their preferred ceremony.